Police: Jamesport post master scammed office of nearly $2,000

The post master of the Jamesport Post Office was arrested on Monday after authorities said she skimmed nearly $2,000 over a three-month period from the federal mail delivery agency.

Marie Puccio, of Rocky Point, was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, as well as falsifying business records, official misconduct and petit larceny.

According to Riverhead Police Detective David Freeborn, who assisted the U.S.P.S. Office of the Inspector General, Ms. Puccio “was caught doctoring her time card, putting down hours that she worked that she didn’t actually work.”

A spokeswoman with the Inspector General’s office, London Mulcahy, declined to comment on the case, stating that the office does not comment until cases have been adjudicated.

However she noted that the investigation started at the end of 2013, and was sparked when an anonymous caller tipped the office off through its hotline.

Mr. Freeborn said that in addition to doctoring time sheets, Ms. Puccio took petty cash from the post office register between Dec. 30, 2013 and March 21. Between both, the theft totaled about $1,930, he said.

The 52-year-old was arraigned in Riverhead Justice Court on Monday, released without bail and is next due in court in June, police said.

One neighboring store owner in the plaza that contains the post office said he didn’t know much about the situation or Ms. Puccio.

“It was sudden and quick; nobody knew anything,” he said. “One day you went into the post office and there were three different authorities there behind the counter, upper-management types, not the types of [employees] you normally see at the post office.”

Fourth-degree grand larceny is a class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison, according to the New York State Penal Code.